Shoe



Aug. 6, 1940. M D THOMPSON 2.210,?35

SHOE

Filed Oct. 25. 1938 IN VE N TOR. Nerf/h D Thompson Patented Aug. 6, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SHOE Application October 25, 1938, Serial No. 236,845

1 Claim.

without reduction of that desired flexibility which is ordinarily embodied in shoes not having this platform feature.

The present trend toward, or demand for, platform shoes, especially in womens footwear, has resulted in numerous shoe designs and sole constructions embodying this general feature. But,

I '20 so far as I am aware, all such prior proposals have involved the introduction of a separate platform element, required to be specially pre pared and to have its edges bound, for finish, and requiring special processes for the combining of the platform with the shoe upper and outsole. Also it has been an objectionable feature that these inserted platform elements add unwanted stiffness to the sole.

It is among the objects of the invention to satisfy public demand for platform shoes without departing materially from shoe-making processes which the test of time has proven entirely satisfactory from the standpoints both of maker and of customer; and to embody, in such a shoe construction, the effect of a platform sole without appreciable increase in stifiness over the ordinary sole construction.

A feature resides in avoiding the costs of preparing and combining a separate platform. element at the sole, by utilizing an integral part of the usual leather outsole for attaining the platform effect.

Another feature resides in a construction wherein the platform effect isconfined to the margin regions of the sole, leaving other regions the same as in ordinary shoes not having the platform feature.

It is, moreover, an important feature that my improved platform effect. is applicable to shoes The mentioned objects and results may be attained by taking an ordinary leather outsole and, at a mid-position in its edge surface, grooving the edge surface so that it is marked in relief, or slitting inward from that edge, so as to. provide a flap or lip. This may extend along the edge of only the forepart of the outsole, thus confining the platform effect to that region, or it may extend all around the shoe, thus providing a platform even at the extremity of the heel region. An outsole is customarily slightly concave at its face which is toward the insole, and so a cut straight inward parallel to the plane of the tread face produces a flap with a cross-section, tapering slightly inward, to a thickness less than at its edge portion. However, as represented the cut is on a slight upward incline, to attain the desired thinness at the base of the flap. This flap can then be conveniently turned up on its thin base, as a hinge. The edge and adjacent sides of such a flap can then be covered with any desired and suitable flexible binding material, stitched or cemented to the flap. Then the flap, thus bound, may be cemented or stitched down toward its original position, against the residue of outsole. The strip thus becomes a part of the outsole, with its edge housed in the slit, and when the outsole is combined with upper and insole according to any of the well known methods of joining these elements, the edge of the strip and the edge of the upper are lost to view together within the shoe, and, at the bottom of the crack between them, is seenthe finished top of the outsole; and below that an edge thickness of the outsole; giving the desired platform eifect.

The strip which is bound around the flap constitutes a distinctive finish for the upper part of the edge portion of the outsole. Without bending the strip around the face of a flap as described, a platform sole effect can be gained by the mere inserting of a dividing strip, in a slot out in the edge face of the outsole, and finishing the exposed upper face and edge of the flap diversely from the finish of the remainder of edge of the sole. Also, a platform sole effect can be gained without making a flap at all, but by cutting a groove or otherwise marking a line in relief along the edge surface of the outsole, and then finishing, with suitable diversity, the edge portion of outsole above that relief line, to constitute the platform portion, and the edge portion of outsole below that relief line, to constitute the tread portion, of the outsole.

It is intended that the patent shall cover, by suitable expression in the appended claim, Whatever features of patentable novelty exist in the invention disclosed.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure l is a side elevation of a shoe embodying features of the invention;

Figure 2 is an elevation of a portion of a shoe, in section at the location 2-2 of Figure l, on an enlarged scale, and showing one form of the invention in which an integral flap of the outsole has its edge covered with binding material to attain a platform efi'ect;

Figure 3 is an elevation in cross-section of the outsole of Figure 2 prior to its association with.

upper and insole, and before the bound platform flap has been secured down against the main por tion of the outsole;

Figures 4 and 5 are views similar to Figure 2 but showing modified forms of outsole with platform effect;

Figure 6 is a plan of the upper face of an outsole showing a bound platform iiap at the forepart; and

Figure 7 is a View similar to Figure 6 but showing the platform flap extending all around the outsole.

Referring to the drawing, the cement process shoe of Figure 1 may be regarded as representative of shoes in general, whether mens or womens, and whether cemented or stitched, with welt or otherwise. And it should be understood that the platform eifect, which in Figure 1 extends only around the forepart of the shoe, may also extend around other parts of the shoe, as suggested by the outsole of Figure 7, wherein the bound platform flap is shown extending all around the outsole.

According to one form in which the invention be embodied, a leather outsole of ordinary sort is provided with a marginal flap ill, by cutting inward from the edge of outsole 22 in Figures 2, 3 and 4. This cutting may be parallel to the plane of the tread face of the outsole and, preferably, will be a rather deep cut so as to make a flap of substantial depth. As represented in the drawing, the cut 12 for making the flap extends with slight upward inclination relative to the plane of the tread face, in order to attain the thin hinge base of flap as portrayed. This fiap having been turned up, durable and thin flexible material 14, suitable for binding and finishing, may be folded over the edge of the flap, With its edge portions extending inward on both upper and under faces of the flap, where they may be secured by cement, or by stitches 55 extending through the flap. In the case illustrated in Figure 1 it may be assumed that the binding and finishing material is a strip of black patent leather; and that the remainder of edge of outsole is finished black, in the customary way for outsoles, with wax.

When such a binding material is used, "the central portion of the strip may be suitably finished for exposure at the edge of the flap; the portions reaching thence inward, which will be invisible, may preferably be left unfinished, for

better securement by cement. Or these inward portions may be coated with a thin fabric, or other agent, for promoting their effective adhesion to the lasted over portion of the upper, in a cement process shoe.

The extent of the flap It may be around only a particular portion of the outsole, such as in Figure 6, or may be all around the sole as in Figure '7.

In any case, the flap, after having had its edge bound, is to be cemented, or otherwise secured, as in Figures 2, 4 and 5, down against the main portion of outsole from which it initially was split away. Then the single-thick outsole, embodying the improved platform effect, is ready for being combined with the upper and insole.

In a cement process shoe, this combining may be by cementing the outsole to the lasted-over upper and the insole. In a Welt shoe, the outsole may be-stitched to the welt in the customary manner.

By initially providing a slight shoulder at the edge of the outsole where the cut I2 is to enter, cutting back a little the edge of that part which will become the flap, the resulting projection of the main portion of outsole both provides for the finished edge of flap to have desired relation to the finished remaining edge of outsole, and also provides clearance for effective finishing of the outsole edge without marring the binding on the stuck-down flap.

Other finish materials may be used, at choice, for the flap-binding function; and, in particular, since the substance added to make the finish is not necessarily a physically coherent strip of material, the effect can be gained, to a practical degree, by merely dressing the top part of the edge portion of the outsole suitably, the cutting of the slit deeply enough to constitute a housing for a strip being omitted.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the shoemaking art that my improved platform shoe may be produced according to ordinary and approved shoe-making methods, without expensive special processes such as are incident to the making of platform shoes as heretofore made, and Without appreciable increase in the stiffness at the outsole region as compared with shoes no embodying the platform feature.

In Figure 5 the edge of outsole is grooved at lid to define upper and lower portions of edge of outsole of which the upper portion may be suitably dressed to give the appearance of being a platform separate from the outsole.

Figure i, on the other hand, shows how a slit l2 may house a strip 22 whose outer edge is visible at the entrance to the slit, accentuating the line of division between upper and lower edge portions of outsole. In this'case the upper edge portion may or may not be dressed to distinguish from the lower portion.

I claim as my invention:

In a shoe having an upper combined with an insole and an outsole, wherein the edge portion of the upper is turned inward and stands between the insole and the outsole, that construc tion of outsole in which the outsole is integral and has its marginal region slitted edgewise around the forepart of the outsole, to a depth underlying the said edge portion of upper, thus dividing the edge portion of outsole into two flaps which are integral together theunder one of these flaps being finished edgewise as an outsole; and a strip of light and flexible material inserted in and secured in the said slit, between the flaps; the upper one of said flaps being finished to simulate a mid-sole between the insole and the out-sole; there being means, independent of the said securement of the strip in the slit, for securing said integral outsole to the upper and insole; whereby the shoe combines the ornamental appearance of a platform sole with the flexibility and light weight of a single outsole.

' MARTIN D. THOMPSON. 

